Andrzej Jastrzębiec (died 1398), also known as Andrzej Wasilko or Andrzej Polak, was a Polish Catholic priest and diplomat, a first bishop of Seret and of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

. Little is known of his youth and he might have been born to a peasant family. He joined the

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

and quickly rose through the ranks of the order. The first verified mention of Andrzej Jastrzębiec dates back to 1354, when he was listed among the parochs in

Mazovia Mazovia or Masovia ( pl, Mazowsze) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the unofficial capital and largest city. Throughout the centurie ...

. After a brief time spent as a missionary in the pagan

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lit ...

, he moved to the royal court of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, where he became the confessor to

Elizabeth of Poland, Queen of Hungary Elizabeth of Poland ( hu, Erzsébet, pl, Elżbieta; 1305 – 29 December 1380) was Queen of Hungary by marriage to Charles I of Hungary, and regent of Poland from 1370 to 1376 during the reign of her son Louis I. Life Early life She was a memb ...

. From there he set off to

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

, where he spent several years as a missionary. As an effect of his mission, on July 31, 1370, a new bishopric of Seret was created and the following year Andrzej became its first bishop. Already in 1372 he moved back to Poland, where he took over the diocese of Halych. Between 1376 and 1386 he served as an auxiliary bishop in the diocese of Gniezno. In 1388, king Władysław II of Poland sent Andrzej with a mission to baptise Lithuania. Following the creation of a

diocese of Vilnius The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vilnius ( la, Archidioecesis Vilnensis; lt, Vilniaus arkivyskupija) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Lithuania. Established as the Diocese of Vilnius in th ...

, Andrzej became its first bishop. He died November 14, 1398 and was succeeded by his deputy, Jakub Plichta.

References

* * 1398 deaths Bishops of Vilnius Diplomats of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 14th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Moldavia Year of birth unknown Clan of Jastrzębiec Polish nobility 14th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Lithuania {{Poland-RC-bishop-stub

See also

References